3 Steps
by ale-cat23
Summary: Set during "Bring your Kook to Work." Emma's running out of ideas to get rid of Shep, until her brother gives her a 3-step plan that's guaranteed to work. However, she gains unnexpected allies as she tries to carry it out. No actual pairings, just hints.
1. Plans

**A/N: Stoked is an amazing show. Yes, that is how I shall debut in this category. Stoked is amazing. Just one more reason to love Canada. **

**So, as said, this story takes place during "Bring your Kook to work day." But to give you an even more specific time frame, it happens between the scene where Emma is on the phone with her mom and the ending. It'll be short 'n sweet, and include both Ty/Emma (OTP, right there) and Johnny/Emma hints. **

**Disclaimer: Oh, how I wish this show was mine. But it's not. If anyone wants to change that by giving it to me for my birthday, I would thank them so much!**

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"Mom. Hey. I think I've ruined everything."

Johnny froze outside the living room as he heard the voice coming from it. There was no doubt it was Emma's, even with all the tears that were distorting it. Just to be sure, he quickly poked his head in. Yep, definitely Emma.

Johnny was well taught that it was rude to eavesdrop on other people's phone conversation, but he didn't move from beside the doorway or make any moves to block out sound. If Emma was calling her mother to ask to go home, he had to know.

"I-I made this giant mistake. I showed these total jerks a s-secret spot, and now I can't get rid of them, no matter what I try. And I've tried everything I could possibly think of, and everyone hates me, and I don't know what to do…"

Her voice disintegrated into full on crying and Johnny shut his eyes as if in pain. He couldn't take this anymore, seeing normally bubbly and bright Emma reduced to tears and hopelessness. It was hurting him. He had to help her. A slow grin spread over his face as a plan began to form. He left Emma to her phone conversation, gears grinding in his head.

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"…I don't know what to do."

Emma sobbed as soon as the words left her mouth. Everything was going completely, horribly, wrong, and she was running out of ideas on how to fix everything. The stupid kooks wouldn't leave! She wanted nothing more right now then to go to sleep and pretend this had never happened. But she couldn't, because everyone hated her and kept putting fish guts in her bed. She wanted to go home.

Herm other sighed. "Oh, honey." She said sympathetically. "Look, I normally would never endorse this, but …your brother is good at getting rid of unwanted pests. I'm sure he'd help you."

"Really?"

"Well, if you were extra nice and promised to do something for him, he'd help you. Let me get him. Bryan? Bryan?"

The voice on the other end of the line grew more distant as her mother called out for Bryan. Emma waited in silence, tears leaking out of her eyes. Her mother was right-Bryan was so good at annoying people so much they'd leave. It was his talent. But if even he couldn't help her, she was calling it quits.

"Hey spark. Heard you've got a problem."

Emma sniffled. "Mmhmm."

"Ok, deep breathes and tell your big brother all about it."

Emma took a calming breath and proceeded to tell him everything- her plan to make Ty jealous, it's spectacular backfire, all her disastrous attempts to make everything right. There was silence at the other end of the line as she finished her story.

"So?" she asked hopefully. "You got anything?"

"Of course." Her brother responded smugly. "You got a pencil and paper to write it down with?"

"Oh, no. Hold on a sec."

Emma dropped the phone down as she scavenged around for something to write with and something to write on. Seconds later, she picked the phone back up, a sticky note and pencil in front of her.

"Ok. Go."

"Alright, first we'll go over your other plans. The shark fin was stupid, no offense. You have 3 insane teenage boys, with jet-skis. They're more likely to try and kill the shark then run away from it."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time?" Emma offered weakly.

"I'm sure it did." Bryan assured her. "The bear costume was a marginally better idea, but not good enough. And the ancient spirit gags never work. Unless you have the right atmosphere."

"Well, it was windy enough. Ok, so what's your plan, smart boy?" She was beginning to cheer up. It was always fun listening to her brother muse about scaring people. And he had something to help her!

She could practically hear his grin as he answered. "Well, dear sister, it's a relatively simple plan, revolving around your idea to get them lost. And all it takes is 3 steps."

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Emma hung up about 20 minutes later, feeling more elated then she ever had in the past couple of days. Her brother was a genius! She couldn't wait to put the plan into action.

So happy was she that she nearly bowled Ty over as she ran out of the living room.

"Hey, whoa. Careful there." Ty warned, gently grabbing her shoulders before they crashed. "What's got you so excited?"

Emma's excited mood only continued to increase. Ty was touching her and he had such a cute smile on his face. She wanted to answer "you", but decided that might not be a good idea. "I just got off the phone with a genius!" she gushed.

Although it went against her girly, Ty loving senses, she pulled herself out of his grasp. She had things to do. "Uh, see you tomorrow!" she said, retreating back up the stairs.

Oh, things were looking up.

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Ty always enjoyed running into Emma. The newbie surfer was always fun. He was, like everyone else, disappointed in what she had done, but couldn't deny that it was still fun seeing her. It was hard for him to stay mad at her.

He watched her go up the stairs before going into the living room she had just vacated. He had left a book in here last time and he needed to get it back. The first thing to catch his eye, though, was a silver phone lying on the counter. Probably Emma's.

Lying beside it was a pen and a pad of sticky notes. He guessed that Emma had also been using them. The top note had deep indentations in it, remnants of words written on the note before it. It looked as though the writer had been very excited about something. He wondered what Emma's 'genius' had said to her to get her so excited. Maybe the note would tell him. He grabbed it and the phone and stepped outside the living room. "Emma?" he called up to the floor above.

A shock of red hair appeared over the railing. "Yes?"

He held up the phone. "You left this."

"Oh…" her eyes widened and her head disappeared. Seconds later, she appeared on the steps. She gently took the phone from him, her cheeks as red as her hair. "Thanks. It would…uh, it would be good to have this."

"No doubt." Ty agreed. Just then, he noticed her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying about something. "Hey, you ok?" he asked, motioning towards her eyes. She got even redder.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just letting off some steam, you know?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Right. Well, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, yeah. See you later." Emma said, going back up the stairs again.

Ty watched her go again, an amused grin on his face. Emma was definitely an interesting person. Just as he was about to go back into the living room, a strange sound stopped him. Was…was someone squealing? He listened for another second, then shook his head. Nope, just his imagination.

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**A/N: Ok, so that was the first chapter. So, whattya think so far? Love it, hate it, indifferent? I'd love to hear what you think. I have the second chapter all ready, so tell me what you think.**


	2. Step 1

**A/N: Thank you all for your reviews! It really means a lot to have people telling you you're doing a good job. **

**I can't say I've ever sabotaged a tent before, so everything written in this chapter is purely made up. It's based on what I know about tents, though. I apologize if it's not explained too well. I tried. Also, this chapter is Johnny/Emma. Just so y'all know. **

**Disclaimer: Stoked still isn't mine. I'm just playing with the characters and will put them back when I'm done.**

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"_Now, step one is probably the most dangerous, but simplest."_

"_And it is?"_

"_Sabotage."_

"_Uh…I'm not really sure…"_

"_No, listen, it'll be fine. Steal their tent pegs, collapse their tents. It's easy."_

"_But what will that accomplish?"_

"_Eh, chaos, confusion. Just what you want. Stealing pegs means the tents have nothing anchoring them down, and if you cut through the string in the rod that holds the tent up, well…And as the pièce de résistance, try to steal their food. If they're stupid enough to leave it out, that is."_

"_Steal…their….food. Got it. Alright, then what?"_

"_Well, that's the end of step one."_

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A series of "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"'s, followed be a quiet crash, followed by a squeaked "oh shoot", woke Johnny. The dark skinned concierge, a light sleeper by nature, sat up and looked at the alarm clock. 4:43, it read in bright red numbers. Who would be up this early?

He got out of bed and, sparing a look at his roommates to make sure they weren't disturbed by the noise, left the room.

As he tip toed down the stairs to the porch, he saw a dark figure moving around. The moon gave him just enough light to make out who it was. Red hair, tan skin, Emma. She was fully dressed and bent down over something, her back to him. Beside her, a pile of magazines lay strewn across the floor. It was probably the source of the crash.

"Oh, this probably won't work." He heard her mutter to herself as she reached for something beside her.

Johnny tip-toed behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She squeaked in fright, straightened up, and turned around, eyes wide.

"Johnny, you scared me! Why are you awake?" she sounded nervous.

"I could ask you the same question." He pointed out to her. "What are you doing up so early?"

She sighed and showed him what was in her hand- a knife.

His eyes widened. "Y-you're going to do yourself in?" he asked, trying to disguise his worry with a joking tone.

She sighed again. "Wouldn't be a bad idea, seeing as how everyone hates me." She said sadly. "No, I'm trying to get those kooks out of The Office."

Johnny felt his heart beat speed up. If only he had the confidence to put his arms around her and comfort her…

He tried for verbal comfort instead. "They don't hate you…" he tried. "They're just…majorly disappointed and angry." Wow, that sounded weak.

"They put fish heads in my bed, and squid in my locker, and no one will talk to me." She countered. "They hate me." She became silent, a sad expression on her face.

He had nothing to say to that, so he changed to subject. "So, you're not trying to kill yourself, you're trying to kill the kooks? Look, I know they're loud, stinky, annoying wave hogs, but isn't that a little harsh?"

She giggled, a soft sound that made his heart flutter. "NO, I have a plan. I just hope it's not a dismal failure like the rest."

She threw the knife into a backpack and picked the backpack up. "Well, wish me luck." She said, slinging the back pack over her shoulder.

_Seize this opportunity, _a small voice inside Johnny urged. "W-Wait! I'll help you."

Emma looked surprised, but that expression melted into a smile. "Really? You'd do that? Oh, you're such a great friend! Come on!"

Johnny followed her off the porch and into the forest, a smile on his face.

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"Ok, what's your plan?" Johnny asked.

The two were on the edges of the forest that bordered the Office. The setting moon cast pale light over the campsite, illuminating the 3 tents and the remains of a campfire, as well as the mess Shep and his friends had made. Emma turned to face him, a tricky glint in her eye. "Sabotage."

Johnny looked at her, surprised. "That—that seems out of character for you."

She sighed unhappily. "I know. But it's one of the last things I can do."

Johnny felt a wave of guilt wash over him. Here was Emma, trying everything possible to fix the problem she had, admittedly, caused, even to the point of getting up at ungodly hours to do it. And then there was him and the rest of the seniors, doing everything possible to make the rest of her life miserable. Heck, he himself had given Ripper the fish heads to put in her bed. Time to reconcile. "Ok, what can I do?"

"Follow my lead." With that, she took off silently. He caught up to her by the tents, where she had already taken the knife out of her backpack and put it in the sand.

"What are we doing here?" he whispered.

"I want to collapse the tents."

"How?"

Emma hesitated. "Uh…steal the tent pegs. Then meet me back here."

Johnny gave her a mock salute and got to it, pulling pegs out of the sand and covering the tell-tale holes with sand. He met up with Emma about 2 minutes later. She had 6 tent pegs clutched in her hand and a giant grin on her face.

"Eeee! This is so much fun!" she whispered, taking his pegs from him and putting them in the backpack. "Ok, last thing."

She took the knife from the ground and headed towards one of the tents. Johnny followed, watching her. She felt around the outside of the tent until she found something. She unsheathed the knife and began to cut through something. Johnny peered over her shoulder to see what exactly she was cutting.

There were two blue poles that ran from the bottom of the tent up and around the top. The support, he realized. Emma had pulled one of the poles apart to reveal a string underneath, the one that held the pole together. Her knife was cutting through it, thinning it out. She stopped just as the rope looked ready to snap. She turned to the other blue pole and began to do the same thing. When the first rope revealed the second, she backed away from the tent. "I'll go do the last one. When I signal, snap these two and run."

Johnny waited, hands positioned by the ropes. He couldn't help but grin. Emma was a smart one. This might actually get rid of them for good. Or at least get them off the beach for the while. Whatever the case, it would buy all the staff alone time here.

The beam of a flashlight, pointed straight in the air, caught his eye. That had to be the signal. It didn't take much force to make sure the strings snapped- a little tugging and they were gone. The tent began to collapse almost instantly. Johnny ran.

Emma caught up with him seconds later, just as noises of surprise and various expletives began ringing through the Office.

Emma began to giggle, and in spite of himself, Johnny also began to laugh. The two ran, laughing, until they were safely in the forest. It wasn't until then that Johnny noticed the satchel held.

"What's that?"

"Oh…" Emma caught her breath. "It's their food."

"You stole that too?"

"Yeah." She sobered up. "This might not get them off the beach for good, but they'll be gone for a while. It'll give me more time to think of plans to get rid of them."

Johnny shook his head in disbelief. Emma had pretty much the same thought pattern he did. Except for the part about needing to think up another plan. He was about to tell her she didn't have to think up anything else, he had it covered, but he stopped himself. He wasn't even sure his plan was going to work. He gave her a grin instead.

"As long as they're gone for a while. That was an awesome plan."

Emma gave him a heart-fluttering grin back. "Thanks. And thanks for helping me out back there. I really appreciate it."

She threw her arms around him in a hug, but pulled away before he could return it.

"How can I thank you?"

_A kiss would be nice…_"Uh…are there any granola bars in there? I'm starved."

She laughed and dug around in the satchel. Her face contorted into a grimace as she touched something obviously disgusting, but lit up again as she seemed to find what she was looking for. She threw him a bar. "There you go. Eat it up. We've got a long day ahead of us."

"True that." He muttered, biting down.

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**A/N: There we go, the 2****nd**** chapter. The Ty/Emma chapter is coming up soon, for all those like me who love them. **

**Hope you enjoyed that, and please review. More reviews I get, the faster I feel inclined to update. **


	3. Abject Humiliation

**A/N: Here's an update. More of an interlude in between steps.**

**DISCLAIMER: This show is not mine, but if someone gave it to me for my birthday, I'd be very happy. (though I'd just settle for having Ty.)**

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"—and then an actual bear showed up!"

Johnny laughed as Emma told him about her other attempts to get rid of Shep. Emma smiled back up at him. She was enjoying this. Johnny was a great friend- fun to talk to, an incredibly good listener. And he was funny. Besides her brother, she hadn't really told anyone about her other plans to get rid of Shep, considering she carried most of them out at night when everyone was asleep. It felt great to share it with someone else. And it helped that Johnny actually wanted to know, gave her encouragement, and appreciated her struggles.

"Wow, that's really something." Johnny said. "Too bad it didn't work. It would've been a good one."

Emma sighed. "Yeah. But I have a feeling that this plan will work!"

She chose not to mention how her brother had practically guaranteed it would work, or her money back (or, rather, a plane ticket home).

"That's the spirit" Johnny patted her on the back. Emma gave him another grin. That was the great thing about him- he was supportive.

The two entered what passed as the front lawn of the staff home.

"Oh, hey, everyone's up." Johnny commented. He stopped. "Uh…"

Emma looked at him in confusion, then up to the porch where everyone was gathered. She instantly regretted it and wished she hadn't.

Strung up on the banisters, the railings, the balcony, where her undergarments. And not just a couple. Someone had gone through her stuff and grabbed all the bras and underwear they could find, which they had then hung up like they were decorating for a party.

Emma screamed, dropping the satchel of pilfered food and the backpack she carried, and ran towards the house. She frantically fumbled with her clothing, pulling them off the railings and banisters. She could hear the seniors-most notable Ripper and Lance- laughing behind her and felt tears pricking in her eyes. She vaguely registered the presence of Lo and Finn beside her, helping to take her things off the house. This was absolutely humiliating. Humiliating, embarrassing, awful. Surely she didn't deserve this?

She heard someone come up behind her and place a hand on her shoulder. "Emma, are you ok?" Johnny asked.

"I'm fine." She replied, shrugging off his grip and gathering up as much of her stuff as she could hold. She elbowed someone-she didn't know or care who at the moment- out of the way and ran up the stairs. She still had to get the stuff that was hanging on the balcony.

Once she had deposited everything she had, including the balcony things, in her room, she slammed the door and collapsed on the bed. She could still hear laughter below. She gave a sob and began to cry.

She didn't even take consolation in the fact that Ty hadn't been there to see that.

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As Emma pulled away from him and ran up the stairs, Johnny glared at Ripper and Lance, who were laughing so hard he was surprised they hadn't either fallen unconscious from lack of oxygen, or peed themselves. Casting one mournful look up the stairs, he turned around to face the rest of the group. He had picked up the bags Emma had dropped and held them securely in his hand.

He walked into the circle of people in time to hear Ripper, Reef, and Lance getting chewed out. Broseph had mysteriously vanished.

"Ok, that was awful." Fin was saying, arms crossed and a stern look on her face. She had some of Emma's stuff tucked up in her arms.

"Seriously, that was low." Lo agreed.

"Oh, come on." Reef said, trying to catch his breath in order to defend himself. "You can't tell me she didn't deserve it."

"Actually, I can." Fin replied, shooting him a withering glare. "I understand fish heads and squid. That's an appropriate surfer punishment. But stealing someone's underwear and hanging it around? That's just completely juvenile and…and…stupid!" she brandished one of the offending articles around as she made her argument. Johnny blushed, and tried not to stare.

"It was funny, though!" Lance protested.

"Go tell that to Emma." Lo said as Fin made a noise of aggravation. "She didn't find it funny and neither did we." With that, she turned on her heel and followed Fin, but first stopped to pick up a bra Emma had dropped. "Oh, this is cute." Johnny heard her mutter as she left.

With the girl's departure, only he, Ripper, Reef, and Lance were left on the porch.

"Can you believe them?" Ripper asked no one in particular. "They think that was undeserved." He seemed to realize that Johnny was there. "What do you think?" he demanded.

Johnny gulped. He hated confrontation. "Uh…I agree with Fin." He said. "That was a little unnecessary."

Reef rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. You're just saying that because you like Emma."

Johnny blushed. "No! No I'm not!" he assured him. It wasn't too much of a lie.

"Right…" Ripper sounded skeptical. "So what were you doing with her this morning then? Secret make-out session in the woods? And what are those?" he motioned towards the backpack and satchel.

Johnny was beginning to get agitated. Reef and Ripper were being unreasonable and pigheaded. "For your information," he told them as calmly as possible. "We were sabotaging the guys in the Office."

He threw the packs towards Ripper, who looked momentarily stunned. As that wore off, he unzipped the backpack and began riffling through it. Lance had grabbed the food sack and had pulled out an apple. "Those," Johnny continued. "Are vital parts of their tents, and their food supply."

Reef looked impressed and Johnny felt he was getting through to him. "Seriously? You sabotaged them?" he even sounded impressed. But then, so he wouldn't lose face or credibility in front of the seniors, his face expression changed to one of doubt. "Well, I bet you're the one who thought up the plan."

Johnny shook his head with a smug smirk. "Nope. I was just a helper. Emma came up with the entire plan herself."

"What was all Emma's plan?"

Johnny swiveled his head to see Ty coming up onto the porch. Ripper looked up from his semi-awed examination of the tent pegs to address his friend. "Ty! You missed it!" he exclaimed.

"Missed what?"

"Our latest punishment. We strung Emma's girly things all over the house."

Ty raised an eyebrow and looked disproving. "Actually? Isn't that a little…harsh?"

"Thank you!" Johnny exclaimed. He knew there was a reason he liked the rich surfer.

Ripper rolled his eyes. "You sound just like the girls and him." He muttered unhappily, pointing at Johnny.

"Sorry? So, what was this plan you guys were talking about?"

"Emma's latest plan to get rid of Shep." Johnny said proudly. He probably would never get tired of talking about Emma's ingenious plan. "She collapsed their tents and stole their food. It'll probably get them off the beach for a couple of hours, so we can get undisturbed surf time."

"That's awesome." Ty laughed. "I'll have to thank her later."

Johnny felt a little bit of jealousy bubble up inside of him and almost instantly regretted being so eager to share what Emma had done. Ty looked just a bit too impressed, and Johnny could imagine he was thinking of Emma.

"Yeah, yeah. It was pretty awesome." Johnny said hurriedly, a bit agitated now. "So, is there a reason for your visit? You're normally not up this early except for initiation, and if you are, you're surfing."

Ty snapped his fingers, remembering. "Oh, yeah. Baumer wanted me to remind you guys he wants you at the hotel earlier. He wants a meeting to discuss your work so far."

That seemed to light a fire under all their butts. The 4 boys practically raced up the stairs to get ready, leaving Ty alone on the porch. On his way to his room, Johnny paused outside the girl's door and knocked. "Is Emma ok?" he asked.

The door opened the door a crack to reveal Fin. "She'll be fine." She told him.

Johnny hesitated. He wanted to see Emma, but Fin refused to open the door any more. "Oh, yeah, Bummer wants us at the hotel soon. He wants to have a meeting."

Fin thanked him and shut the door, leaving him to get ready for the day ahead.

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**A/N: Alright, there is the third chapter. The next chapter will have not only part 2 of the plan, but it will be almost all about Ty and Emma. (Though like I said, there are no actual pairings, just hints of pairings.) So stay tuned for that**

**Reviews are lovely and encourage updates. Please review.**


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